WBUR | Politicshttp://www.wbur.org/content/news/politics/feed
WBUR is Boston's NPR News Station, featuring NPR news and programs such as Car Talk, On Point, Here & Now, Only A Game and Radio Boston.Tue, 03 Mar 2015 21:52:19 +0000en-UShourly1An Update On The Republican Field For 2016http://www.wbur.org/2015/03/03/republican-nomination-walker-paul
http://www.wbur.org/2015/03/03/republican-nomination-walker-paul#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 12:50:00 +0000http://www.wbur.org/?p=180645At least early on, it appears even without former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney that the field of Republican candidates for president next year will be a crowded one.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker got a leg up in the last few days as they led the straw poll among conservatives at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

What’s the impact on the early race? For the answer to that question, WBUR’s regular political analysts — Democratic strategist Dan Payne and Republican strategist Todd Domke — joined WBUR’s Morning Edition.

]]>2015-03-03T09:26:54-05:00Commentary: Scott Walker, The Punter Who Would Be Presidenthttp://www.wbur.org/2015/03/03/commentary-scott-walker-the-punter-who-would-be-president
http://www.wbur.org/2015/03/03/commentary-scott-walker-the-punter-who-would-be-president#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 12:37:17 +0000http://www.wbur.org/?p=180536Someone should tell the hot new GOP presidential candidate that the Green Bay Packers already have a punter.

Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker was asked recently how he felt about the long-established scientific fact known as evolution. His answer: “I’m going to punt on that one.”

When New York’s ego-obsessed ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani questioned President Obama’s patriotism at an event for Walker, the governor refused to disown the ridiculous comments. Walker sat just feet from Giuliani as the latter said he did not think the president loved America.

Asked about it the following morning, Walker would say only, “The mayor can speak for himself.” Later he offered this: “You should ask the president what he thinks about America,” adding, “I’ve never asked him so I don’t know.”

Another punt: Asked if he believes President Obama is a Christian, he said “I don’t know.” He obviously hasn’t seen that the president regularly attends church with his family and frequently talks about his Christian faith. What Walker has seen is a 2014 survey that showed that 54 percent of Republicans still think Obama is “deep down” a Muslim.

In his strong second-place showing at the Conservative Political Action Committee’s candidate bazaar last week, Walker really fumbled the ball. Asked how he’d combat ISIS, he declared: “I want a commander-in-chief who will do everything in their power to ensure that the threats from radical Islamic terrorists do not wash up on American soil.” He then compared his record as governor: “If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world.”

OK, tough guy. He was comparing his success in cutting benefits for his state’s school teachers, nurses, students, grandmothers, veterans, correctional officers and other union members who gathered in the state capital to protest his anti-union efforts to his ability to defeat the barbaric, blood-thirsty terrorism of ISIS marauders, who beheaded their prisoners and burned a captured Jordanian pilot alive in a cage.

Walker has already made organized labor his sworn enemy, a stance that endears him to conservative Republicans who have never held a minimum wage job. But he also sees union-busting as smart foreign policy, arguing that “the Soviet Union treated Ronald Reagan more seriously” after he fired all 11,000 striking air traffic controllers in 2001. Vladimir Putin, are you listening?

Even before the CPAC convention, Walker led in a national survey by Public Policy Polling with 25 percent, compared to 18 percent for pediatric surgeon Benjamin Carson, and 17 percent for Jeb Bush. The pollster noted, “Walker has more than doubled his support since his 11% standing on our January national poll.” His ascent, the pollster said, “is driven by his appeal to the most conservative elements of the Republican electorate.” Indeed, he wowed Iowa’s religious right at its candidate cattle show in January and finished first in a Des Moines Register poll of likely attendees to the caucuses set for February 1, 2016

On abortion, he signed a controversial bill last year requiring a woman seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound and for doctors to show her the image of the fetus. On same sex marriage, Walker again punted. After a federal court struck down a state measure that defined marriage as between a man and woman, Walker observed, “It really doesn’t matter what I think now.” Walker supported the gay marriage ban as a legislator before he was governor. Pressed to elaborate, he characteristically deferred, “I don’t comment on everything out there.”

He may have to comment on lots of things when he debates tough opponents like Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz. Meanwhile, Tim Masthay will handle the punting duties for Wisconsin’s football team.

Dan Payne is a Democratic political analyst for WBUR.

]]>2015-03-03T07:37:17-05:00Commentary: Who Will The GOP Pick For Veep?http://www.wbur.org/2015/03/03/gop-veep-pick
http://www.wbur.org/2015/03/03/gop-veep-pick#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 12:37:01 +0000http://www.wbur.org/?p=180554It may seem preposterous to speculate about possible vice presidential candidates when we’re still waiting for presidential candidates to officially announce…

But reviewing possible running mates is another way to assess the field of presidential wannabes. After all, if someone isn’t credible enough to be considered veep-worthy, should we take them seriously for president? And in analyzing who would be a good running mate for “balance” — ideological, geographical, ethnic, gender or age — we can better understand the weaknesses, strengths and strategies of presidential hopefuls.

JEB BUSH

Job Bush (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

It’s hard to imagine that he’d settle for vice president after having had real power as governor of Florida and after 12 years of enjoying life without media scrutiny. But if asked by a presidential nominee to sacrifice “for your party and your country,” wouldn’t he consider it? After all, didn’t his father — who had more government experience in 1980 than Jeb does now — accept the VP invitation from his adversary, Ronald Reagan, and go on to be elected president? Which presidential candidate might consider Bush a good complement? Not too many of them, actually. California business exec Carly Fiorina would be one.

MARCO RUBIO

Sen. Marco Rubio (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

The Florida senator is a leading possibility for VP because he’s young, telegenic, articulate and Hispanic. As explained in a recent Washington Post piece by Chris Cillizza, the trend of a growing Hispanic vote coupled with the trend of GOP presidential candidates losing Hispanic support by a growing margin “should terrify Republicans.” If Bush were the nominee, he wouldn’t pick Rubio because they’re both from Florida. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz wouldn’t pick him because they are both Cuban-American. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul would not select him because they’re both recently elected senators. But Rubio would be a predictable pick for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Ohio Gov. John Kasich or Tea Party favorite Dr. Ben Carson.

RAND PAUL

Sen. Rand Paul (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

If Paul fails to win the presidential nomination, it’s unlikely that the winner would pick him for VP because reporters would constantly ask both candidates about their differences on foreign policy and other issues. As a committed libertarian, Paul couldn’t adjust his positions to be compatible with the presidential nominee without seeming like a sell-out.

JOHN KASICH

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (Skip Peterson/AP)

The governor of Ohio might run for president, but he’s taking his sweet time to decide. He’d be a tempting choice for a non-Midwestern non-governor, like Marco Rubio. They could run as a new-generation team, like Bill Clinton did with Al Gore in 1992. Ohio is one of the key swing states, and Kasich was reelected by an impressive margin. As a former House leader who knows how to build coalitions in Washington, he’d be a big asset for a new president.

RICK PERRY

Rick Perry (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Three reasons he won’t be picked: 1) Even with the glasses, he looks like the guy who lost last time. 2) Texas is already safe for Republicans. 3) Oops, I forgot the third reason.

RICK SANTORUM

Sen. Rick Santorum (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Like the previous Rick, he is known for losing last time (and for losing reelection to the Senate in Pennsylvania). He doesn’t bring anything new or needed to a national ticket.

TED CRUZ

Sen. Ted Cruz (Joe Skipper/AP)

I can’t imagine the Texas freshman senator making the short list of any GOP presidential candidate. He’s too demagogic and polarizing. It’s not his fault that he resembles Sen. Joseph McCarthy (if you Google the two names, you’ll see this is not a new observation). But alienating nearly all senators, including in his own party, is not the kind of leadership that unites a party and wins presidential elections.

BEN CARSON

Ben Carson (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Theoretically, if Jeb Bush were the nominee and worried that the party’s conservative base needed motivation — and if Dr. Carson grew as a candidate, despite his promise not to evolve into a typical politician — Bush might decide to take the kind of gamble that another moderate conservative, John McCain, took when he picked Sarah Palin. That was not a happy outcome, but again, it’s a question of whether Carson became more knowledgeable about politics and policy, and less content to adlib. Still, it is very unlikely.

CONDI RICE

Condoleezza Rice (Ben Margot/AP)

While conservative supporters of Ben Carson believe he would have an electoral advantage because he’s African American (as well as an acclaimed surgeon), fans of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice believe she’d have greater appeal – being black, female, and a foreign policy expert. She doesn’t seem interested in running for office, but she’s concerned about world affairs and might feel, if asked, that it’s her patriotic duty.

Who would pick her? Bush would probably be disinclined because another Bush-Rice partnership might seem like going back in time. But Walker or Huckabee might feel the need to have a foreign policy expert on the ticket to make up for their lack of experience in world affairs.

CARLY FIORINA

Carly Fiorina (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO was the Republican Senate nominee in California in 2010, but failed to carry that very Democratic state. She’s impressed conservative audiences with her tough-on-Hillary rhetoric — for example: “Unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know that flying is an activity, not an accomplishment.”

If the presidential nominee wants a running mate who can attack Hillary Clinton relentlessly without seeming sexist, Fiorina might be the choice. But if the nominee wants a woman who has a more appealing personality (i.e. not a former big biz boss), Sen. Kelley Ayotte of New Hampshire seems like a real possibility, especially with New Hampshire being a swing state.

MIKE HUCKABEE

Mike Huckabee (Charlie Neibergall/AP)

If Huckabee runs for president — and why would he give up his talk show on Fox if he didn’t want to run? — conceivably he could go all the way to the convention, as he did in 2008, with enough delegates to cause a deadlock. In that case a deal might be brokered so he’d be the running mate. Conversely, he could be the one picking a VP.

That scenario applies to most of these candidates. If the field remains split, with candidates taking turns winning primaries, a brokered convention could make any of these candidates the VP.

DONALD TRUMP, SARAH PALIN, RICHARD M. NIXON

They all have the same odds of being nominated for vice president in 2016.

Two House members, Reps. Katherine Clark and James McGovern, are opting out of attending Tuesday’s speech. Sen. Elizabeth Warren also said in a statement to The Boston Globe that she won’t attend.

McGovern said he is a strong supporter of Israel but called the timing and circumstances of the speech deeply troubling, noting that it comes before an Israeli election and during nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.

“For Speaker [John] Boehner to use our relationship with Israel to score partisan political points is wrong,” McGovern said in a statement. “The House chamber should not be used as a platform for a foreign leader to run his re-election campaign.” He first announced his intention to skip the speech on WBUR last week.

Clark said she’s committed to maintaining and strengthening what she called the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel, but noted the invitation was offered without first consulting the Obama administration.

“This invitation came without consulting the president or State Department and with the false representation that it was a bipartisan invitation,” Clark said in a statement. “Speaker Boehner has poisoned a critical foreign policy discussion with partisan gamesmanship.”

Warren also said she remains a strong supporter of Israel and is “deeply concerned about the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon,” which she said she discussed with Netanyahu in November.

“It’s unfortunate that Speaker Boehner’s actions on the eve of a national election in Israel have made Tuesday’s event more political and less helpful for addressing the critical issue of nuclear nonproliferation and the safety of our most important ally in the Middle East,” Warren said in the statement.

Other members — including Reps. Niki Tsongas, Seth Moulton, Michael Capuano and Joe Kennedy — said they’re planning to attend even though they don’t support how Boehner set up the speech.

Tsongas said Israel remains the country’s strongest ally in the region, but said she was disappointed with what Democrats have portrayed as Boehner’s snubbing of the White House.

“I plan on attending Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech but remain disappointed that Speaker Boehner chose to ignore normal protocol that has turned the visit into a partisan issue and distracted attention from critical issues of mutual concern,” Tsongas said.

Capuano said he’s disappointed “Speaker Boehner would choose to politicize a relationship with such an important ally by not consulting with the president before issuing the invitation to address Congress.”

Other members planning to attend include Sen. Edward Markey and Reps. Stephen Lynch, Richard Neal and William Keating.

Netanyahu’s already tense relationship with President Barack Obama has reached a new low as a result of the planned speech.

The Israeli leader is deeply suspicious of Obama’s efforts to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran, fearing the U.S. and its negotiating partners are prepared to leave Tehran on the cusp of developing a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu stressed he would speak clearly before Congress about the threat a nuclear Iran would pose to Israel and the world.

Netanyahu told a Jewish lobby group on Monday that his speech is not intended to inject Israel into American political debates.

The speech comes two weeks before Israeli elections.

Earlier:

]]>2015-03-03T09:33:16-05:00Gov. Baker’s Budget Will Include Early Retirement Pushhttp://www.wbur.org/2015/03/02/early-retirement-offer-budget-gap-measure
http://www.wbur.org/2015/03/02/early-retirement-offer-budget-gap-measure#commentsMon, 02 Mar 2015 12:31:49 +0000http://www.wbur.org/?p=180441In a bid to cut state government payroll costs and balance next year’s budget, the Baker administration will seek to allow eligible executive branch employees to artificially add five years to their years of service or their age if they retire soon.

Gov. Charlie Baker is seeking to close a budget gap in the “ballpark” of $1.5 billion without drawing from reserves or raising taxes, and the budget plan would seek to reduce executive-branch staffing by 4,500 through early retirements. His budget is due Wednesday and the fiscal year starts July 1.

Tracking Gov. Baker’s 1st Budget:

Baker’s chief budget-writer said the staffing reductions would push state government toward more efficient service delivery.

“We’ll have to certainly make some adjustments but that’s a good thing. I look at that as an opportunity to make some changes, to bring some efficiency to state government,” Administration and Finance Secretary Kristen Lepore told the News Service Monday. Saying she hoped there would be zero layoffs, Lepore said, “We’re really comfortable that we can reach this number through early retirements.”

The early retirements would fall between April 6 and May 29 under the plan, and the legislation authorizing early retirements would be filed in a separate bill from the budget.

This year’s $36.5 billion state budget, which was approved last summer, has undergone midyear revisions to account for shortfalls totaling about $1 billion. Baker’s annual budget proposal will be redrafted by the House and Senate this spring and likely land back on his desk in late June or July.

Administration and Finance spokesman Dominick Ianno told the News Service about 14,000 employees would be eligible, having already reached either 20 years of service or 55 years of age. The budget plan would allow early-retirees to add five years to their years of service or their age to boost their pensions.

Retiree pension payments are determined by a calculation based on salary levels, years served and the age of the former employee. The early-retirement plan in Baker’s budget would not allow retirees to go above the maximum payments.

If the executive branch falls short of the 4,500 target, the state would use layoffs to make up the difference, Ianno said. Asked how many layoffs she expects, Lepore said, “We’re hoping none.”

The program is expected to net savings of $178 million after the costs of pension contributions, health care and a limited amount of re-hiring is factored in.

The plan calls for roughly $50 million to be added to the state’s annual contribution to the pension fund for the next 15 years.

“Unlike the early retirements that were done in the past we are funding the pension liability in our savings so it will be built into the base,” Lepore said. The additional pension costs would raise the floor of the state’s pension contributions so next year “we don’t need to find $50 million because it’s already built into the base,” Lepore said.

Staff reductions would more than pay for the additional pension costs, according to the administration’s plan. The Baker administration plans to continue to realize $178 million in annual savings for the next three years, totaling $534 million in savings over that three-year span. Hires to backfill the positions lost to early retirement would be limited to costing 20 percent of the gross savings from the early retirement program.

The program would only be open to employees in the Group 1 pension classification. That includes “clerical, administrative and technical workers, laborers, mechanics,” according to state law. Law enforcement, prosecutors and certain specialty positions are classified in different pension groups.

Lepore pointed to prior early-retirement offers and said she is not concerned that departments and agencies will have trouble keeping up with their responsibilities.

“When this happened 10 years ago we had almost double the amount of employees take advantage of it, and it wasn’t a problem back then, so I really don’t have any concerns,” Lepore said. She said early retirement programs in 2002 and 2003 resulted in more than 7,000 employees making use of it.

Related:

]]>2015-03-03T12:19:35-05:00Commentary: Massachusetts Might Be Hillary Clinton's Least Favorite Statehttp://www.wbur.org/2015/02/27/hillary-clinton-massachusetts
http://www.wbur.org/2015/02/27/hillary-clinton-massachusetts#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 11:15:17 +0000http://www.wbur.org/?p=180077Hillary Clinton has done well in Massachusetts. She has raised a lot of money here, and she prevailed in the state’s 2008 Democratic primary against then-Sen. Barack Obama.

But as she worries about a possible fight for her party’s presidential nomination in 2016, Massachusetts might be her least favorite state now.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is the main reason that our state seems less hospitable to Clinton. While Warren continues to say she has no plans to run for president, she is clearly not inclined to support Clinton any time soon. In an interview on MSNBC, Al Sharpton asked Warren if she considered Clinton a “progressive warrior” and she replied: “You know, I think that’s what we gotta see. I want to hear what she wants to run on and what she says she wants to do.”

As an economic populist, Warren could put Clinton on the defensive because of her close ties with Wall Street and the new scandal about the Clinton Foundation accepting millions from foreign governments that try to influence U.S. government officials – including during Clinton’s years as secretary of state.

And if Warren was critical of Clinton’s hawkish views on military and foreign policy, she could rally progressives as antiwar candidates have in the past.

Clinton knows how valuable Warren’s endorsement would be. She still probably winces when recalling Sen. Ted Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama after the South Carolina primary in 2008. That seemed pivotal, convincing many liberals to back the little-known senator from Illinois.

There’s another Massachusetts politician that has stirred speculation. Secretary of State John Kerry is not likely to enter the race but “Nobody ever says never,” he said on “Meet the Press.” While Kerry said he couldn’t envision any scenario for running and said he never thinks about it, surely he’s still haunted by his narrow loss to President George W. Bush in 2004 and wonders “What if?”

Yet another Massachusetts Democrat, former Gov. Deval Patrick, might have caused Clinton heartburn when he was as clear as Warren in saying there should be no coronation for Clinton. On “Meet the Press” last November Patrick said: “I think the narrative that it’s inevitable is off-putting to regular voters. I don’t think this is a criticism of her, but people read inevitability as entitlement. The American people want their candidates to sweat for the job and to make a case for why they are the right person for the job.”

Many Democrats think Clinton needs a primary contest as a warm-up for the general election, so she’s not as rusty and gaffe-prone. Many of her supporters don’t see it that way; they want to conserve resources and hope the GOP primaries are so destructive that she’ll coast to victory.

Should Clinton expect to face a real fight for the nomination? History says yes. Only incumbent presidents have won nomination without a serious challenge. In 2000, Vice President Al Gore had to face a strong contender in Sen. Bill Bradley. In 2004, Sen. John Kerry had to beat Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont.

If Clinton starts to lose support, perhaps others might run, like California Gov. Jerry Brown or New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. So far, only three have emerged as possible challengers to Clinton: Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb. None of them seem to have the charisma, cash or credibility to be a major threat early. But, as Hillary Clinton knows from her run in 2008, and as Elizabeth Warren, John Kerry and Deval Patrick can testify, the thing most predictable about politics is that unpredictable things happen.

Todd Domke is a Republican political analyst for WBUR

]]>2015-02-27T10:24:16-05:00Sen. Chang-Diaz On MBTA Crisis: ‘I’m Hopeful We Will Not Fail To Act On This Moment’http://www.wbur.org/2015/02/26/sonia-chang-diaz-mbta
http://www.wbur.org/2015/02/26/sonia-chang-diaz-mbta#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 22:31:57 +0000http://www.wbur.org/?p=180098State lawmakers on Thursday questioned transportation officials about the massive problems that have plagued the MBTA during the recent stretch of snowstorms.

Sen. Sonia Chang Diaz was there for the Senate Bonding Committee meeting and joined WBUR’s All Things Considered to discuss what her takeaways were.

Rep. Jim McGovern, who previously pushed to delay to the speech, told Radio Boston on Thursday he has made up his mind not to attend.

“I think the timing and the circumstances of this speech are deeply troubling,” the Democrat McGovern said in the interview. “The speaker of the House unfortunately has made this into a partisan issue. This violates all past protocol and all joint addresses to Congress.”

Listen To Rep. McGovern’s full Radio Boston interview:

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner last month invited Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress without consulting the White House, a move the Obama administration called a departure from protocol.

The White House later said President Obama would not meet with Netanyahu while he was in the U.S., citing the proximity of the March 17 Israeli election.

“I am going to the United States not because I seek a confrontation with the President, but because I must fulfil [sic] my obligation to speak up on a matter that affects the very survival of my country,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Feb. 10.

The Boston Herald reported last week that while most of the state’s all-Democratic congressional delegation will attend Netanyahu’s speech, some — including McGovern — remained undecided, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Reps. Katherine Clark and Niki Tsongas.

]]>2015-02-26T17:53:43-05:00Full Commuter Rail Service By March 30, Says Apologetic Keolishttp://www.wbur.org/2015/02/26/baker-keolis-personnel-changes
http://www.wbur.org/2015/02/26/baker-keolis-personnel-changes#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 17:07:39 +0000http://www.wbur.org/?p=180040The under-fire operator of the commuter rail system on Thursday issued an apology for its poor performance amid the recent historic winter weather, but said service might not be back fully until March 30.

In a statement, Keolis International CEO Bernard Tabary said “the system will be operating at 78 percent passenger capacity by tomorrow [Friday] and at full service by March 30.”

He added that the company “will do everything we can to accelerate that process,” including bringing in experts from around the world.

The restoration timeline was released after “a constructive meeting” with Gov. Charlie Baker. Tabary said the plan was approved by the governor.

Tabary’s statement also included an apology to commuter rail customers.

“You have endured cancelled or delayed trains, information snafus, and mechanical issues like doors that don’t open,” he said. “We know you’ve waited on cold platforms and been late to work or had a difficult time getting home at night. We know we haven’t performed up to the high standards you have a right to demand, and that we demand of ourselves.”

Tabary added that “we won’t rest until MBTA Commuter Rail is once again operating as it should.”

The meeting with the governor came after a reported leadership shakeup at Keolis. The Boston Globe and Boston Herald, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday that Gerald Francis is replacing Thomas Mulligan as head of Keolis Commuter Services.